YANGON - UN CHIEF Ban Ki-moon gave a rare public speech on Saturday outlining his vision for a democratic Myanmar, just hours after the ruling junta refused to let him meet opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi.
CHIANG MAI (Thailand) - THOUSANDS of excited visitors flocked on Saturday to a zoo in northern Thailand for the first public viewing of a baby panda, which has been featured on Thai front pages almost every day since her birth six weeks ago.
BANGKOK - THAILAND'S health authorities on Saturday reported two more deaths from H1N1 flu, raising the country's total to seven, as the number of confirmed cases passed 1,800.
JAKARTA - INDONESIA'S presidential candidates held their final rallies on Saturday ahead of only the second direct elections for the country's head of state since the fall of the Suharto dictatorship in 1998.
Incumbent Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono is riding high after his centrist Democratic Party tripled its vote in April's general election to become the largest party in parliament.
